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The Holy month of Ramadan had started;
he entered the mosque of Kufa. He went up the pulpit and after praising Allah
(SWT) and sending greetings upon His great Prophet (PBUH&HP) addressed the
people as such,

“O people! We
are observing the month which Allah has made it superior to all other months …
This is the month in which the gates to the sky and doors to the mercy of the
Lord are open; and the gates to fire are closed.

This is the month that the voices (of
people) are heard and prayers are accepted and the weeps cause the mercy of
Allah.

This is the month in which there is a
night that angles come down from the skies by the order of Allah in it, and
offer their peace to fasting men and women until sun dawn. That night is the
night of Qadr. Fasting in the next day is greater than fasting a thousand
month; and performing any good is greater than performing that good for a
thousand month.

Allah is sending his blessing in every
day and night of this holy month. Thus, whoever makes any small benefit from
this month, he shall have great respect in the day that he faces Allah; and no
one shall have respect in front of Allah (SWT) unless Allah will grant the
paradise to him.”

Then Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH) continued
his speech on the top of pulpit of Kufa mosque:

“O Servants of
Allah! This month is not like any other; its days, nights and every hour of it
is the most valuable among all others. This is the month that the Satans are
imprisoned for the whole month. Allah increases the sustenances of people and
increases the length of lives and selects the guests of His house (for Hajj).

O you who fast! Be very careful about
what you do and perform. You are the guests of your Lord in this month. Observe
your behavior every day, and watch how you prevent your organs and body from
committing sins.

Watch out not to sleep all night and
be careless during the day and as a result this month passes and your are still
carrying your sins. Otherwise, on the day that believers get the reward of
fasting, you will be among losers; and they will enjoy the blessings and
bestowings of the Lord while you cannot get any of that; and they will be
neighbors to Allah for life while you will be among those who are taken away
from Him!

O you who fast! If you are rejected
from your Lord, where are you going to turn? If your Lord left you alone, who
is going to help you? And if He does not accept you among His people, who are
you going to submit? And if He does not forgive you, who are you going to ask
forgiveness?

O you who fast! Recite the Holy Quran
in day and night as a means of getting closer to Allah; indeed the Book of
Allah can intercede for those who recited it and its intercession will be
accepted on the resurrection day. Therefore they (the reciters) climb to higher
levels of paradise by reciting the verses of this Book.

Glad tidings for you who fast! I heard
from my most beloved one, the Prophet of Allah that, “Allah forgives a
high number of people from agony of fire, but no one knows how many they are
except Himself. On the last night of Ramadan Allah will forgive as many as He
has been forgiving throughout this month.”

At this time a man from a tribe named
Hamdaan stood up and said, “O Amir al-Mu’minin! Tell us more from what your
beloved (the Prophet) told you about Ramadan.”

Amir al-Mu’minin said, “I heard that
my brother and my cousin, the Prophet of Allah, that he said, ‘Whoever fasts
during the month of Ramadan and avoids the sins, he shall enter the paradise”…

The man from Hamdaan repeated his
request three more times and Imam replied him in the third time as follows,

“I heard that
the greatest of all Prophets, Messengers and angles to Allah said, ‘The Master
of Successors will be killed in the Master of all Months.”

I asked: Which month is the master of
all month and who is the Master of Successors?

He said, “The master of months is
Ramadan and the Master of Successors is you O Ali.”

I asked, “O Prophet of Allah! Is this
going to happen?”

Prophet said, “I swear to Allah this
will happen. Indeed, the worst among the people of my nation will hit the top
of your head with a sword such that blood will cover your face and beard.”

People started to cry and weep after
these words; Ali (PBUH) finished his sermon and came down from the pulpit.

(The above is a
selection taken from “Fada’il al-Ashhur al-Thalathah”, by Late Sheikh Saduq)(1)

The Roshd website congratulates the
arrival of the Holy month of Ramadan, the month of becoming clean from moral
impurities and getting free from the sins and the spring of reciting the Holy
Quran and contemplating it to you dear friend.

Footnotes:

1. In order to
translate this narration from Arabic the translation of Muhammad Reyshahri in
the book titles as “Muraqibat of Ramadan” is used.